The best live party band ever!

I first saw the Scissor Sisters on September 21, 2004 at Liquid Joe's right here in Salt Lake City.  Jake Shears bought his outfit at the thrift store across the street.  I can't imagine that there were more than a hundred or so people there.  We danced and sang along to those amazing Scissor Sister songs.  We took Polaroids. Even Paddy Boom was there. And afterwards Baby Daddy took the time to chat and let us even take a Polaroid with him and Felix.

I can confidently say, that was the best live concert I've ever experienced. And it's the reason I've gone out of my way to experience the Scissor Sisters every chance I get.  I saw them at Sundance. I traveled to Denver to see them. We hung out afterwards and took a couple of Polaroids with the always gracious Jake Shears.

 And I saw them when they opened for Lady Gaga (they're better without Gaga!). None the less, they never disappoint.

Most recently, I traveled with Felix to Las Vegas for the first US performance of their latest tour.  And Jake, Ana, Baby Daddy, and Del Marquee reminded me once again that the Scissor Sisters are unquestionably the best live party band ever. So let's have a kiki! Why say anything more than that?  Here are a few pictures from the show.

Bring out your gays; Erasure is in town.

I need to start this post by admitting that I am not the Erasure fan I should be.  I like a lot of their songs, and can at least usually sing along to the choruses.  Felix is a true Erasure fan and bought tickets to their recent concert at Salt Lake City's Kingsbury Hall.  He invited me.

I'll start with a great big thank you to Felix.  I liked this concert a whole lot more than I thought I would for a bunch of reasons. 

I'll start with the opening act.  Frankmusic (which by the way, the lead singer produced Erasure's upcoming album) was really fun.  I'd be perfectly happy to show up at a dance club and have a DJ play one of their songs. Plus, the lead singer was charming when he signed their latest single during the break.

Then we got to the main act.  I've never seen Erasure live and I'm sad I haven't.  This performance was spectacular.  I love concerts in a small theaters like Kingsbury Hall. And when you pack that theater with gay men who absolutely love Erasure, the experience is even better.  I haven't had this much gay concert fun since I saw the Pet Shop Boys in San Francisco.

Lead singer Andy Bell sparkled, literally, with his sequin coat that he shed to reveal his corset/vest, which was later cut off to introduce one of the best onstage costume changes I've seen since Carol Channing's cabaret show.  (Wow, how gay was that last sentence.)  But he also sparkled vocally.  This guy can sing and he can sing live, even if his voice is being processed digitally.

Just like seeing the Pet Shop Boys in SF, the crowd was one of the best things about this performance.  Here's a general crowd shot of all the party boys. And a shot of the boys two rows in front of us who had more fun than just about anyone else in the theater.

Some in the crowd were having more fun than the rest of us.  This guy in the row in front of was smoking something. I'm not sure what it was but he was puffing all night long.  I have proof:

I also loved how the crowd, even though they were as old as me, have embraced the new social-sharing attitude.  People video taping this concert were rampant.

As with all great 80s synthpop duos, you have to have the quiet partner.  In Erasure's case, the quiet partner is a little creepy.  Every 80s synthpop duo should have a quiet, creepy guy:

I can't end this post without acknowledging my favorite Erasure fan, Felix, who bought the tickets and invited me to an amazing concert experience.  Here's a photo and super-short video that hopefully communicates how much fun we had.

The astronomical alignment of the pop-music firmament.

Last summer I traveled to Vegas to see Lady Gaga perform.  I bought those tickets just weeks before Gaga announced she was coming to Salt Lake City.  Last fall, I traveled to Denver to see the Scissor Sisters.  That was just months before they announced they would be opening for Lady Gaga.  Last weekend, the pop-music stars aligned as Lady Gaga and Scissor Sisters performed right here in Salt Lake City.


I'll start with the Scissor Sisters.  As always, they brought more energy to a performance stage than just about any band I've seen.  Jake Shears looked amazing and a little trashy while Ana Matronic classed-up the joint with her big vocals and even bigger persona.


I will say that the Denver show was better for two reasons: 1) The group played a much longer set.  Here they played about five songs.  And with Gaga taking an hour break between the bands, it would have been nice to hear a few other of the Sisters' big dance-y gems.  And 2) The Scissor Sisters are for me, a classic bar band.  Which means they're best is smaller, divier venues, like the Odgen Theatre in Denver.

Lady Gaga's show is pure spectacle.  Seeing it twice may minimize some of the magic as you begin to realize how precise the show works.  But Gaga's performance was still exceptional thanks to her honesty both from a vocal standpoint and from her message of inclusion.


There were some big differences in this show, most notable the ending.  In Vegas, the ending involved massive sets with set pieces falling from the sky and Gaga rising dramatically on a giant riser.  Even her costume seemed to come alive.  In SLC, that entire scene was eliminated, I assume to allow for the final song, Born This Way (a song which hadn't yet been released at the time of the Vegas show.)

Casey Spooner: The new Hollywood heartthrob.

I keep asking people if they've heard of the band Fischerspooner.  And I keep getting blank looks.  I follow them more from the art world perspective than from the music perspective.  Somehow, they've been able to make their mark in the fine art world with elaborately staged performance-art-like presentations in galleries, museums, and at art events around the world.  But I think most people might remember the band better from their pop music efforts like those in this trippy video.

Half of the act, Casey Spooner, is the opening act for the current Scissor Sisters tour.  Asked to go on tour at the last minute, he didn't have the financial backing to make it happen so he put out a plea on Kickstarter.com and his fans (including me) helped finance the tour.  And I'm glad we did.

With just a few simple ideas (a shiny suit, a soft backdrop, and a couple of spotlights), he took old Hollywood glamor and made it all new.   He was charming, his music was winning even though his album isn't out yet and no one knew any of the songs, and he made for a perfect introduction to the Scissor Sisters.  Here are a few photos from the show.

Ladies and gentlement, the Scissor Sisters: World's greatest party band.

Some of you Salt Lake City old timers might remember heading to the Zephyr on a late summer night to see a great party band like the Disco Drippers.  You might remember feeling like the entire club was dancing in sync to the endless, danceable tunes.  You might remember feeling like the band members were a bunch of friends who had invited you to a party in their living room. Well if it's been too long since you've been to a concert like that, then get to a performance by the Scissors Sisters, because they take all those great feelings and multiply them by a factor of ten.

I like to complain about how the Scissor Sisters are a big act in Europe playing to stadium-size crowds and that they don't get the respect they deserve here in the states. But I'm not going to complain any more.  Because here, we get to see the Sisters in smallish, delightfully dingy venues like Denver's Ogden Theater, which goes a long way toward making you feel like you're just hanging out with a thousand or so of your closest friends. 

What really makes a Scissor Sisters' show great is the music and the people performing it.  Jake Shears is so amped up  you can't help but be infected with his love for the band's music.  And Ana Matronic gets better every time I see her with powerhouse vocals and a dark sense of humor that plays perfectly to the crowd ("Baby Daddy's parents are in the crowd tonight. That's Baby Mommy and Baby Daddy . . . Daddy").  Add the strangely charming, reassuring Baby Daddy and the quirky Del Marquis and you've got a group that delivers a better live performance than any band I've seen. I've now seen them live three times and they just get better every time.

Of course, the fact that they write such great songs doesn't hurt.  I can't think of another band working today that writes lyrics as complex and interesting as those of the Scissor Sisters.  Their lyrics are often Cole-Porteresque, telling innocent stories tinged with sexuality and melancholy.  And the music that accompanies them is an amazing, swirling mass of pop culture references mashed up into totally new, infectious tunes.  The result is songs from their current album like Fire with Fire, a new kind of rock anthem.  Or Any Which Way, a sexy (even smutty) tune that invades your brain and refuses to leave.  Or how about a tune from their last album like I Don't Feel Like Dancing, a grumpy song about not wanting to dance (and featuring the brilliant line, "you think that I could muster up a little soft-shoe gentle sway") wrapped in happy music that almost forces you to dance.

Word on the street is that the Scissor Sisters will join Lady Gaga on her tour in the early part of 2011.  Which means your chances to see them in smaller venues may be drawing to a close.  If you can't make it to one of their upcoming dates, then enjoy some of these photos from the Denver show.

Ana Matronic and Del Marquis.

The perfectly lovable Babe Daddy.

Ana and Jake Shears.

The view from the back of the Odgen Theater.

A Polaroid imposter.

Sadly, my recent plea to Lady Gaga for the opportunity to take a Polaroid went unanswered.  But that didn't mean the return of the FlirtCam wasn't a huge hit in Vegas. That's right, I was making new friends right and left starting at the Lady Gaga performance. There was Gideon to our right who drove in from Los Angeles with his friend. He ultimately suggested we should meet him after the concert at Krave (either because he loved the Polaroid or because his friend looked really grumpy and we looked like we might be more fun).

There was the older gay couple from Las Vegas on our left who were a little curmudgeony about the photograph until after I gave it to them and then they loosened up and started chatting.

Then, there were the French boys.  At first I thought they were brothers but as the show progressed, I couldn't be sure if they were related or if it was young love.  Felix said they were just "being French." But if that's the case, French brothers sure like to get cozy sitting on each other's laps. Whatever they were, they were positively charming and funny.  And they loved it when I gave them a Polaroid. While I didn't take a second photo of Gideon and the other couple, I did get one of the French boys.  So here it is along with a Polaroid of Felix and me at the concert.

And now for the last photo of the night.  If you can't get Lady Gaga to pose, why not get the next best thing: The Lady Gaga-inspired drag queen at Pirahna's after party.  Here then is Miss CoCo St. James performing as Lady Gaga.  I'm so happy to have the Polaroid back.